The unusual suspect
by meanbow
Summary: a new bounty comes into Chicago, and Rally and May get on the case...but there's more to this bounty than they expected...


_**(1)**_

_**Gunsmith cats: The unusual suspect**_

_**By mean bow**_

This is the first one of my Gunsmith Cats stories, just a reminder that I DON'T own the characters, they are owned by kenichi sonoda, however the baddies are all from the dark recesses of my mind (my god, do I have one?) enjoy!

This story is set BEFORE rally finds her father (for info, see the gunsmith cats comics from dark horse)

Chapter 1 The unsettling fax 

It had started out as a normal day in Gunsmith Cats, Rally and May had opened the store, the regular shooting range customers had been and gone, some passing trade had too.

The morning had gone by quickly and now it was time for lunch.

"What do you fancy Rally?" asks May

"Uh, I don't know. What have we got…?"

And before May had a chance to reply, rally added

"…And NO Chinese!"

"Aww, geez rally. We got a large half carton in the fridge though."

"Well then, YOU have it, I don't want any" Rally replies

Just then, their discussion about what to have was interrupted by the sound of the fax machine springing into life, printing off another bounty to be caught.

Rally put down the gun she was working on, got up from the table in the middle of the room and went over to the fax to see what was coming out.

"Hey May, this is a big one…" she starts

"…Wanted by the FBI"

That sparked Mays' interest in the fax, and she walked away from the fridge door, and it closed behind her.

"Who is it then?"

"Some woman known as Arlene Davenport" Rally goes "Wanted for various crimes in a few states including Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Michigan and here in Illinois. The crimes include obtaining money by fraudulent means, deception, carjacking and other auto related offences"

"Sounds like a nice lady." May goes sarcastically

"Doesn't she just.anyway, lets see what else is here." Replies Rally

"Geez!" goes May "she's done some prison time! Look at the list of prisons and institutions she's been in, and she's only your age"

"I can see that, I want to see what she looks like" goes Rally

"Here comes the picture now" May goes

As soon as the picture started to print off, both rally and May went quiet, the picture was half done, and the woman on the wanted sheet looked familiar…

"OH MY GOD! SHE LOOKS LIKE YOU, RALLY!" May's voice was full of shock as the picture finished printing.

The resemblance was amazing, the hair, short and dark with it set in the same style, the eyes, not as blue as Rally's, but blue none the less, a similar skin tone and similar facial features. apart from one difference, a small mole on the left hand side of her neck.

The two girls went quiet, both staring at the picture, not knowing what to say next.

May broke the uneasy silence.

"So… what do we do then? Do we go after her, or not?"

"Well, it is a rather large bounty. It would be foolish not to go after her. It sure would be nice to have 20,000 in the bank" replied Rally

"But…" starts May "what about all the other bounty hunters in the area? They would have received this too, and they may come looking this way…at you"

"That's a chance I'm going to have to take, May" Rally pauses for a second

"I think we should call Becky… see what she can get for us"

Chapter 2 

**Time to hunt**

"Rebecca Farrah's Residence, who's calling please?" goes Becky

"Becky, it's me, Rally .I need some info on a bounty"

"Hi rally, sure, what do you need?" she goes

"I need as much as you can find out about an Arlene Davenport, local hangouts, usual places of residency, where she drinks, everything." Replies Rally

"Of course, I just need you to wire me some money first, say, around 1000 for everything, including stuff you didn't ask for" Rebecca sounded smug saying that.

"Hold on, I'm just going to my account now" goes Rally, sitting in front of her computer, but says "leech" under her breath. It took a few seconds for the funds to transfer electronically.

"There, in your account now" she resounded distastefully

"Thank you, pleasure doing business with you, as usual" Becky replies. "I'll send everything over to your fax as soon as I get it all. I'll be an hour"

As promised, an hour later the fax went off, and a few pages of info started to spew out onto the floor.

"Here we are.." goes Rally "she usually holds up in a motel on Interstate 56,just outside of Chicago, called the Come on Inn and Motel. Becky says she has a few aliases, and one of them has checked in to that motel recently, in the last two days.

It says here that she has checked in as a Ms Arlene Dace"

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Shall we go get her?" asks May.

"No, we wait until tonight, and catch her off-guard"

Later on that evening, after the shop had been shut up for the day, Rally and May got into the cobra, and headed off for the motel in the information given to them by Becky straight after work.

It took them about ½ an hour to reach the Motel, and was just starting to turn to dusk as they pulled in to the car park. The two girls decided on a plan.

"May, you go into the office, and use your persuasive skills to get the clerk to tell you what room she's in"

"Right Rally" replies May

With that, May gets out of the cobra and heads over to the office and enters.

Rally sat in the car watching the office, and May at work.

"Hello there, I'm looking for a friend of mine who's staying here, you think you could help lil' old me out?" she asks in her best out of state accent, and gives the clerk a wink.

"Err, well you see miss, I'm not allowed to divulge customers information out to anyone, it's against the company policy" replied the clerk, looking nervous at the way May was looking at him, with a flirty glint in her eye. However the clerk couldn't help but look at May and her small but well formed body.

"Aww, come on sugar…" she replies to him, whilst leaning over the counter and walking her fingers up his arm, and then brushes his face with them.

"Is there anything I can do to persuade you to tell me? I mean, it's obvious that a big strong man like you is going to take a lot of persuasion. Perhaps my friend can help you too" she goes, and then winks at him again.

"Ah…well… what's your friends name?" he goes half excitedly, half nervously.

"Arlene Dace"

With that, the clerk types the name in to the computer and then says "Room 212"

She smiles at him, and then leans over and kisses him on the cheek and says, "thanks Hun, meet me outside in an hour, bring a room key, I'll give you a night you won't forget for a long time"

With that, May heads out the door, waving her backside back and forth as she walked out towards the cobra.

The clerk stood up and watched her leave, and said to himself "I am in so much trouble, but THAT is worth it", and then looks at his watch to count the minutes till he could 'meet her'

May gets back into the cobra and says to Rally "Room 212,round the back"

Rally looks at May and asks, "Just what did you promise that guy?"

"I promised him a night he won't forget for a long time, so lets not disappoint now" she replies back with a smile on her face.

Rally starts the cobra up and drives around the back to the rear car park, where the rooms are located.

The girls get out and each one takes a different side of the complex, as there is two sets of apartments on two floors, with a large inter connecting balcony between them.

"I'll take the ones on the bottom, you take the ones on the top" Rally says, then pulls her gun out from her holster and checks it for ammo in case.

"Right, I mean left, no…right, I'm confused" May goes. Rally just points to the ones up top on the right and shakes her head slowly.

After going round a few doors, she spots the number she's looking for.

Rally thinks herself lucky that she found the room, and knocks gently on the door.

"Who is it?" goes a rather abrupt female voice from inside the room

"Room service" replies rally, bringing her gun up to eye level, ready to be used.

There was a scuffling noise from inside the room, so rally knew the suspect was going to make a run for it, so she swings herself away from the wall and uses the ball of her foot to kick the door in, and brings her gun in to bear on the room.

The door swings open under the force of the kick, and then swings back again, telling her that there was no-one hiding directly behind the door, so she proceeds in to the room slowly, gun first.

Inside the room, there were no lights on, so it was dark and gloomy and hard to see. Rally proceeds in; moving cautiously and slowly, when from behind her comes a noise of something heavy being swung.

Rally turns and gets hit on the side of the head by a small bat, stunning her, and making her drop to the floor with a thud. Arlene turned the light on just as rally hit the floor.

Arlene was looking at the figure on the floor in shock.

'My god, she looks like me' she thought

Over the other side of the complex, May heard the noise and came running, grabbing a stun grenade from her pocket as she ran.

Arlene was standing over the limp and motionless body of Rally Vincent.

The girl on the floor was wearing a similar outfit to herself.

A white blouse, dark trousers and small boots, but had a fancy leather jacket on.

She dropped the bat and proceeded to lean over and slowly removed Rally's jacket and looks at it, turning it round so that the 'gunsmith cats' logo is facing her.

She then proceeded to put it on.

"Hmm, nice fit" she thought

She then picks up rally's gun off the floor.

All of a sudden, the doorway was blocked by a small figure of a girl, looking down on the floor at the body of Rally.

May turns and looks at the other girl standing over her friend, but see's that she has Rally's gun and jacket on.

"Rally?" enquires May

The second girl stands up slowly, and thinking quickly says, "I think so, yes"

"What happened here?" goes May

"I don't remember everything. I can remember entering this room and being attacked from behind, but I managed to get her on the floor, but not before she hit me on the head with that" replies the second girl, pointing at the small bat on the floor next to Rally's limp body, purposefully avoiding showing the left hand side of her neck.

"I think I better go call the police and an ambulance, to get the two of you checked out." Goes May, a slight edge of concern in her voice for the woman who was standing up, rubbing her neck.

May ran outside to the payphone in the car park to call for help, and that was all the time that Arlene needed to fleece rally of all her stuff. Out came her phone in the pocket, her license and her purse in the other pocket.

In it's place, she picked up her own jacket, and placed it on top of rally with her drivers licenses, all 6 of them, and purse inside.

Arlene looked in the pockets of rally's jacket, pulled her purse out of the pocket and looked at the bounty hunters license.

"Hmmm, so she's Rally Vincent. She looks so much like me; this could work to my advantage. She can take the fall for me then" she muses

A few minutes later, May re-appears at the doorway and looks at 'Rally'

"Are you o.k?" she asks, concerned for her friends well being.

"Yeah, I'll be fine as soon as this piece of trailer trash is locked up where she belongs" replies Arlene, in her best effort to sound like a bounty hunter.

"You sound funny Rally. You sure you're O.K?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just feeling a bit dry. I'll grab a drink and be O.K." she replies

"Are you sure Rally? I mean…that could be a nasty concussion if it's not looked at"

Replies May, as 'Rally' is still rubbing her neck, in an effort to hide the mole that would give her away.

"Yeah…I'll be fine, trust me, uh……….."

"May." She starts " you were hit hard, Rally.you can't even remember my name" she goes a little angry with her 'friend' for forgetting

"Sorry May, I'll get myself looked at, when the E.M.S get here"

"I think you'd better 'cuff her, in case she wakes up, don't you?" goes May

"Yeah, good idea" 'rally' goes, and fumbles through the inside pocket of rally's jacket. Finding the 'cuffs inside, she proceeds to kneel over the limp form of rally and 'cuffs her like a pro, slamming the ratchet arm over the wrist and making it spin round and lock itself, with gentle pressure to close it properly.

"At least you ain't forgot how to do that!" May quips, then smiles

Arlene just laughs, and replies, "There's some things you never forget, May"

Chapter 3 

**Questions, Questions**

The E.M.S ambulance, an unmarked Chevy and a patrol car arrived on the scene around 15 minutes after May had called them, along with a friend of theirs.

"Hello Roy…." Goes May, as the authorative figure of Detective Roy Coleman appears in the doorway of Room 212.

'Rally' froze at the sight of him, and the two accompanying police officers, with the look of dread in her eyes.

"You alright, rally?" Roy asks, noticing her apparent fear.

"Yeah, sorry uh…Roy" she stumbles, as she almost forgot his name she had heard just a few brief seconds ago.

"Don't worry too much, Roy. Rally got hit on the head by that girl. I think it has affected her a bit." Says May, informingly

"You don't sound right to me…but if you say you're alright. So I guess asking what happened is out of the question for a bit then, eh?" he replies.

'Rally' just nods, and then says "I'll come by for a statement later on Roy. Promise"

"What about her?" she then asks, and points at her as the police officers help the E.M.S to load the real rally onto a dolly, and strap her down. "I mean, I had to rough her up a bit as she did the same to me. She may say some crazy stuff like I'm not who you think I am and such…"

"Well…" Roy starts "if she does, we'll just ignore it. But anything she does say will be used as evidence anyway. Now then, lets get you looked at, shall we?"

After a few minutes in the ambulance, Arlene emerged, with a plaster on the left hand side of her neck now covering the mole.

"The medic says I'll be fine in a few days, he thinks I got a little concussed in the fight." She goes

"What's the plaster for?" enquires May

"What? Oh, sorry. I got a nasty scratch from one of her nails on my neck" 'rally' says thinking quickly.

From the ambulance, a load of screaming and shouting starts.

"LET ME UP, YOU MORON! I'M RALLY VINCENT! THAT'S NOT ME OUT THERE!" the real rally screams at the medic, who is now hastily preparing a sedative, whilst the other medic and a police officer are struggling to keep her from getting out of the dolly.

With that, the second officer slams the ambulance door shut, whilst the screaming is still going on, then silence.

"Told you she may do that…" smirks Arlene, feeling sure that she is pulling off this deception with ease.

The E.M.S ambulance pulled out of the come on inn motel's car park and heads for the Chicago City memorial hospital, lights on, no sirens.

Roy just watches as it pulls onto the interstate and heads off, then turns his attention back to 'Rally' and May.

"You sure you're going to be o.k, rally?" Roy asks, a little worried that she may be hiding more injuries than she has let on.

" Course I'll be o.k. Who'd you think you are, my father?" she snaps back at Roy.

Roy looks at her harshly.

'This is not like her at all' he thinks to himself

"Rally! There's no need to be rude" May snapped back at her.

"Sorry. I just don't feel right at the moment. My heads thumping like a drum" Arlene replies with a look of pity in her eyes "I'll be alright.i just need an aspirin and a lie down"

"I'll get her home, Roy.and make sure she gives you her statement as well in the morning" May goes.

"Yeah, o.k. I'll see you in the morning. And don't forget your paperwork for miss Davenport, or you won't be able to claim the bounty" he replies, then turns around and heads to his car.

"Come on rally, lets go home." May says

"Oh, o.k. I think you'd better drive though, I don't think I can with my head like this"

Arlene replies to May's comment.

"WHAT? You want me to drive your cobra?" May goes with shock in her voice

"I'd be lucky to reach the pedals" she finishes off.

Arlene stops, then thinks about what was just said, then she turns her head towards May.

"Sorry if I upset you May. I just can't focus right now" she says, and then adds, "by the way…where did we park?"

"Over THERE…" goes May, pointing at a rare 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 Cobra parked up in the corner, under a streetlight.

Arlene stared at the car, thinking 'this can't be real, no-one keeps a car like that on the roads' and starts to think of all the cars she has 'boosted' in her heyday.

Corvettes, Chevelles, Boss Mustang's, Chargers, Hemi's, some import cars like Subaru's, Honda's, Porsche's, BMW's and the like, but never had she the honour of boosting a Shelby, let alone driving one without worrying about being stopped as it wasn't 'hers'

"Unicorn" she mumbles, whilst walking towards the car.

Arlene stroked the bonnet of the car, gently but reassuringly.

May looks at her doing that, and thinks 'she's treating it like she's just had it'

Arlene opens the driver's door slowly, and climbs in. May opens her door and jumps in.

"Well? We going or what?" she asks

Arlene gently grips the steering wheel, then moves her right hand down the steering column to the keys.

BRRRRRMMMMMMMMMM!

The cobra comes to life at the first turn of the key, and then she slams it into gear.

SKRRRREEEEEE!

The car leaps forward at the sudden rush of power to the wheels.

"RALLLLLYYYY!" screams May, as she gets thrust back into the seat from the force of the acceleration.

Arlene was loving it.

Second gear, rev's pushing 7500,third, another 5500,then fourth, effortlessly

'Here I am, in the driving seat of my unicorn, and I'm pulling off the biggest deception in my life. I'll clean these girls out, and then move on, as I always do. But I think I'll keep the car to sell it' she thought to herself

The cobra was being driven at breakneck speeds down the interstate, whipping in and out of early evening traffic.

Arlene looked at the Speedo, and nearly had a fit.

'HOLY SHIT! 130mph!' she thought

With that, she took her foot off the gas pedal and started to apply the brakes to bring the car back down to a more acceptable pace.

May just looked across at 'Rally' with a very stern look in her eyes.

'This is not like rally at all' she thought 'rally would never drive her car like that unless it was needed'

"Do you know where we are going?" she asks her 'friend'

Arlene stared straight ahead for a few seconds, then replied "no…"

The cobra was now cruising at 55,the engine just burbling away, and Arlene turned her head slightly towards May.

"I really am screwed up May. I can't remember a thing…" she goes, then tears starts to form in her eyes.

'I am too good' she thought to herself, as the tears started to roll down her face.

"Don't worry, I'll guide you home then" she replies.

All the time she was guiding 'rally' home, May was thinking to herself.

'This is definitely not like rally, somethings up here' she thought, as she was giving directions back to their shared house.

Unicorn-a mystical creature of legend, often used by 'car boosters' as a reference to a rare/exotic car that you don't see outside of private collections or museums.

Chapter 4 

**BIG Mistake!**

The cobra pulled into the driveway of the house; Arlene gently pulled the handbrake up and switched the engine off, removing the keys from the ignition.

May got out, followed slowly by 'rally' as they walked towards the front door.

May opened the door, and went in, followed by Arlene, who closed the door behind her.

"I'm going upstairs to have a shower and get changed" May called as she went up the stairs, pulling off her top as she went.

"O.K, May.i just need to get an Aspirin from the kitchen" goes Arlene, as she heads through the kitchen door.

She looked around at her surroundings, and thought 'this is a palace to all the other places I stayed at', then headed to the refrigerator to get something to eat.

Arlene finds a half carton of sweet and sour chicken and egg fried rice in the 'fridge, and grabs it.

"You my friend…are my food!" she smirks, as she carried it over to the microwave

May comes down the stairs 5 minutes later in her large nightshirt and rubbing her hair with a towel to dry it.

"MMMMM, that smells nice! What is it?" she asks, as she walks barefoot into the kitchen.

"A sweet and sour chicken and rice I found in the fridge. MY FAVORITE! Want some?" goes Arlene.

"UMMM………sure rally. I'll have some………." May trails off into silence

The microwave's bell indicating the food was ready broke the silence in the kitchen.

With that, 'rally' opened the door and pulled the steaming hot food out, and placed it on a plate in the middle of the table.

"OWW, OWW, HOT!" she goes as she placed it down, then proceeds to grab a plate and spoon it out.

May just takes a spoon and puts some on her plate, but watches as 'rally' is devouring the Chinese hungrily

"MMM, good. Best I had in a while!" she went between mouthfuls, then poured herself a glass of milk from the container of milk that was put on the table by herself earlier.

May just mused over the portion, watching 'rally' devour hers like a ravenous animal.

Then it twigged in May's mind

'Rally HATES Chinese!'

"UMM, Rally…" May starts

"Yeah?" she replies in between bites

"Is it alright if I go out to see ken? I mean, it's been a few days…and he's probably missing me" May finished off.

"Sure, go." 'Rally' replied, and then thought to herself 'good, if she's going out then I can go through their stuff'

" 'Kay then, seeya later ral!" she went, dropping the spoon onto the food and running up the stairs to get dressed again.

May hurriedly got dressed again, putting on her little red leather skirt and white blouse and pulled on her favourite boots.

"See you…whenever!" she called as she grabbed her red leather jacket from the coat rack by the door.

May ran outside to the garage, the door opened, and her little FIAT was sitting there, waiting.

In the car she got, starting it up quickly to get away as fast as she could, and headed towards the hospital they took 'Arlene Davenport' to.

Chapter 5 Finding Rally 

May pulled into the car park of Chicago City memorial hospital, found a space to park, and went in, looking for the reception.

She stopped at the main counter, and looked at the medical clerk on duty.

"Hi! Can you tell me where I can find Arlene Davenport please?" she asked politely

"Are you family?" the clerk replies, not looking up from her computer screen.

"NO, but I AM a bounty hunter, and I helped bring her in. I need to ask her some questions" May replies rather abruptly, as she felt she was being ignored.

With that, the clerk looked up from her screen, and looked at May.

"Permit please" she went

May went into her purse and pulled out her licence and showed the clerk.

"Room D152, fourth floor" the clerk went, and then turned back to her computer screen.

"Thanks…" May went, and then said, "…you miserable git" under her breath

May took the elevator in the lobby up to the fourth floor, and then started looking for room D152.

It wasn't long before she spotted someone she knew.

"HI Charlie! What'cha doing here?" she went, looking at the police officer in the fourth floor lobby area.

Charlie was a rookie cop, fresh from police academy, who had a crush on May

"Hello May…" he went "…I'm on guard duty here, for that woman you and rally caught earlier"

"COOL! Maybe you can help me then. I really need to speak to her. It's important"

"As long as you are quick, I'm not supposed to let anyone in to see her, except for the doctors and nurses" he replied, and pushed the door behind him open.

"Thanks Charlie" she went, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

He tried to hide his face from her, as she had just made him turn bright red with her kiss.

She went into the room behind Charlie, and pushed the door shut behind herself, then walked slowly towards the bed in the middle of the room.

The person in the bed was hooked up to a heart monitor, which was pulsing steadily at 40bpm.

May walked around to the left side of the bed, and gently pushed the woman's head to the right.

" I knew it." May went, then leant in and put her arms around the woman

"...Rally, it's you"

The woman stirred, and the heart monitor started to pick up.

"Uhhm.." she went, and then turned towards May slowly.

"May? Is it you?" she asked quietly.

"Yes Rally, it's me" she replied softly.

"How did you guess?" the real rally asked her friend

"Let's just say…she did stuff you wouldn't do, unless you were absolutely starving!" she said with a smirk on her face.

"Let's get you out of here" May went, and then started to turn off the monitors.

"May, one problem…" Rally went, then pulled the sheet off and lifted her right leg to show her an ankle shackle attached to the bed and her. #

"…I'm a police prisoner, remember? They think I'm her, and she's me. They make sure their prisoners can't escape whilst in public" she finished off.

May stopped for a second, looked at the shackle, and started to think.

"I have an idea!" May went. "Cover yourself up under these blankets, I'll be back in a few minutes, I just need to start a distraction"

With that, May headed towards the door, then turned around to look at rally before opening the door.

"Remember, be ready to go, cover up"

Rally pulled the sheet up and pretended to be sleeping again.

The door opened, and Charlie turned round to see May emerging from the room.

"Hey May, how'd it go?" he asked trying to act cool.

"Fine" she went, and then asked, "Where's the bathroom on this floor?"

"Oh that's easy." he went "down the corridor, past the main elevator lobby, 5th door on the left, just past the nurses changing rooms"

"Thanks" she went, and then waved as she walked down the corridor "BYEE!"

"BYE MAY" he called after her, then sat back down in his chair.

He picked up his magazine again and went 'I really must ask her on a date…' he muttered.

#I know real police procedure would mean that she would be handcuffed to the bed rail, not shackled, but May's plan won't work if I follow procedure ;)

Chapter 6 

**ESCAPE!**

May went into the bathroom, and went into her jacket pocket, and pulled out a couple of smoke grenades.

She positioned them so they couldn't be seen, but would cause a tremendous amount of smoke to fill the room and the corridor, the placed a timer on them so they would be delayed action.

She set the timer for 5 minutes, then went and sneaked back to the nurses changing room.

May had to break into a few lockers, before she found one that had a uniform in it, and even then it was a little bit too big for her.

"Ah well. Beggars can't be choosers" she went, and proceeded to change into the outfit.

It took May 4 minutes to change and fix her hair into a new style, then put her clothes and some old clothes she found in another locker into a carrier bag.

"Perfect" she went looking at herself in the mirror, then thought, "maybe ken would like me wearing this…"

She had to mentally slap herself to get back to the situation at hand.

In the bathroom, the timer clicked and the pins got pulled out of the smoke grenades.

The smoke started to fill the room, then crept under the door and into the corridor.

A few moments later, there were screams coming from outside, then shouting as Charlie's voice barked out orders, trying to restore order. Then the hospital's fire alarm sounded. May had her distraction.

She snuck out of the changing rooms and headed back up the corridor, past all the people who were trying to get off the fourth floor and the hospital personnel who went to fight the 'fire'.

May approached the door of room D152 again, then went in.

"Rally!" she went

Rally pulled the blanket from over her head and went "yes?"

May walked over to the bed, pulled the blanket back and shoved the carrier on rally's stomach.

It was cold, especially as she was only wearing a hospital gown over her underwear.

"HEY!" she went, and then looked as May pulled the blanket back over her.

"AHH, now I get it!" Rally goes.

"Just remember your breathing" May went, and winked at her, then proceeded to unlock the bed's brakes and wheeled it towards the door.

Outside, it was chaos. There were nurses trying to get patients out of the ward, Charlie was assisting the hospitals own security guards and porters to tackle the 'fire', so May just pushed rally out into the midst of it all on the trolley and headed towards the lifts.

"OUTTA THE WAY! Pregnant woman coming through!" may shouted trying to be heard above all the commotion, and rally started to moan to add to the illusion.

May pushed her way to the front of the queue, and grabbed an elevator. They took the first one that came back up, as a few other nurses had cleared the way for them to get the trolley in.

The elevator doors slid shut, then may went "that's the hardest part out of the way, remember to keep the act up in the main lobby, Rally"

"Next time…YOU try acting like your pregnant!" she snaps back at May.

"Geez, you've only been preggers for a few minutes, and already your having mood swings!" May retorts.

"Just you wait, Minnie May. I'll get you back for this"

"Hush up!" she went "we're here on ground floor. Start moaning"

Rally did as instructed, and the doors opened up to the main lobby entrance.

May pushed the trolley out into the corridor and started wheeling it to the corridor marked up 'maternity'

Rally went quiet as they proceeded along, but May knew what she was looking for.

"Here we are" May went, and stopped by the service elevator.

With that, she pushed the call button and watched in case someone seen them. No one did.

They took the service elevator down to the lower levels, where may headed for the maintenance room.

She pushed the door using the trolley, and went in with rally, shutting and locking the door behind her.

Rally sat up, and pulled the blankets off herself.

"Now what?" she goes, looking around.

"NOW… I get you out of that thing" May replies, as she picks up a hacksaw from the tool rack on the wall.

Twenty minutes…and a lot of hard work later, the chain was cut, but rally still had the shackle around her ankle.

"At least you can move again, rally," said May

"Yeah…and thanks May." Rally went, and put on the spare clothes bought in the bag by May.

"So…what was it that she did?" asks Rally " I REALLY want to know"

"Let's just say… The golden swan and you don't mix" May replied then went "now lets get out of here!"

May and Rally went to the doors, unlocked them, and headed back to the service elevator.

Rally wasn't really one to complain, but it was all over her face that she didn't like walking along those cold corridor floors with no shoes on, but she had no choice, as May couldn't find any shoes that would fit her in those lockers she raided.

'At least there were trousers in them' she thought, and looked down at her right foot to make sure the shackle was covered by the baggy sports bottoms, while the loose fitting top and matching sports jacket were hardly flattering.

'I can't wait to get that girl' she then thought, and imagined all the things she would do to her.

May stopped by the service elevator doors, and looked at Rally with no shoes on,

Then across at a wheelchair dumped unceremoniously in the corner.

"Better jump in that, Ral" May went, pointing to the chair "less likely to draw attention to yourself, what with no shoes"

Rally nodded in agreement, and went and sat down in the chair.

May gave Rally a rolled up blanket that had her clothes in.

"You just came out of the maternity ward, Rally. Pretend this is your kid, right?"

Rally nodded her head in agreement slowly

Once up in the main hospital again, May, still dressed as a nurse, pushed Rally outside, past all the doctors, nurses, security guards, firemen and police officers without so much as being noticed or looked at twice.

Chapter 7 

**The real deal?**

" I can't believe we pulled that off!" exclaimed Rally, as she looked over her shoulder at the hospital growing further and further away from the car.

"See? I can be very good at plans too!" goes May, feeling rather pleased that her plan had worked.

"So. Next phase. Get that con artist and put her where she belongs. BEHIND BARS!"

Goes Rally, who pulls the sports bottoms right leg up to reveal the remains of the police shackle around her ankle.

"I'll make her pay for this…" Rally trailed off, and then looked at May.

"Take me to Becky's, May, I can't go home…yet"

May headed towards Rebecca's house in the suburbs of Chicago.

During all this, Arlene had plenty of time to go through the cupboards and things in Rally's house, trying on different outfits, checking all the various guns and ammo lying around, making a few phone calls to some 'friends' about the guns and ammo, and also found a buyer for the Shelby, making her around 300,000 richer.

'AHHH, this IS the best set-up I've EVER had!' she mused, thinking about the check for 200,000 for all the 'merchandise' she would be receiving.

'All I got to do now is deliver it tonight around midnight, and then I'm off again'

She lay there on rally's bed, thinking of what she could spend 200,000 on.

"Maybe I'll head back to Vegas in the Shelby, spend some of it there…" she went to herself

"…And then I drop the Shelby off to my buyer in New York, and get another 100,000 just for the car alone!"

She started laughing out loud.

"And all because of that stupid tart who looks like me!"

She laughed even more.

Suddenly, she stopped laughing, as a realisation hit her.

'If she is going to be me and do time as Arlene Davenport, I'll HAVE to become her…'

This thought lingered in her mind for a while; she would have to lose one life to gain another.

'Can I do it? Can I pull off the biggest scam in my life?' she thought, as she pulled rally's purse out and looked at her drivers licence, then her bounty hunters licence and permit.

She got up off the bed, and walked over to the 6' length mirror behind rally's bedroom door.

She stood there; holding rally's permit in her left hand and a gun in her right, then went…

"I'm Rally Vincent, bounty hunter" in her meanest sounding voice.

'Maybe I can alter her a bit…' Arlene thought

Arlene looked at her watch, and then went

"Damn! I got to get that stuff loaded in the car!"

At Becky's house, Rally was freshening up in the shower, while May explained the situation to Becky.

"…And that's what happened, Becky" went May

"HMMM, I wondered what was going on at your place. I had a rather strange call earlier, which came from Rally's house," replied Becky.

"How strange, Becky?" went a voice coming down the stairs, still a little wet and wrapped in one of Becky's large towels

"Very strange, rally. Someone called me saying they were you, and asked me for a list of potential buyers for guns. I got the convo on tape here." She went, then stood up and walked over to her answering machine.

Becky played the tape.

"Rebecca Farrah's residence, who's calling please?"

"Rebecca, it's me."

"Hey Ral! How'd the bust go earlier?"

"Could've gone better, I got cracked on the noggin by that little tramp I went to bust. She's going to get her comeuppance in prison though"

Rally just stood there in the living room listening, and growing madder by the minute

"Umm, sure she will. Just let the courts deal with her first, 'Kay? Now, what can I do for you this time?"

"I need a list of potential buyers for weapons in the state…it's for a new case I'm working on…"

"Hold on…you need WHAT?"

"YOU HEARD ME! I need a list of buyers for guns, DUH! The one's who are willing to pay top line too, if that's possible"

"Yeah… of course…I'll get that sent to you. How about payment then?"

"I'll pay you when I get paid, now just send me that list, right?"

"…Sure thing, rally. I'll send it to you over the fax now"

"Thanks"

Then the tape went silent

Rally exploded in a fit of rage

"THAT LITTLE SLUT! SELLING MY GUNS! I'M GONNA KILL HER!"

Rally turned and ran back up the stairs towards Becky's bedroom, dropping the towel as she ran and went through her clothes to find something that would fit.

Rally came down 5 minutes later, dressed in one of Rebecca's two-piece ladies grey thigh length skirt sets, white blouse, and with a pair of black square heels borrowed from Becky's shoe rack to match, and the rather unsightly shackle still around her right ankle on show.

"Let's go, May." She went

"Where to?" May asked

"The shop…I need to pick up a weapon and some ammo" she replied

"Be careful, Rally." went Rebecca

"I will be, and thanks for the shower and change of clothes." She replied

"No problem…" then she remembered

"…You'll need this too"

"What is it?" goes Rally

"The list she asked for…" goes Becky, handing it to rally

With that, the two girls headed out of Rebecca's house to May's little fiat, which Rally proceeded to drive to 'gunsmith cats'

Chapter 8 

**Revenge is sweet**

Rally opened the back door to the shop, going in to turn the alarm off and the lights on in the back room.

She proceeded over to a large wall cabinet, housing a vast selection of firearms, from hand held guns, to mini sub machine guns, to an assault rifle and shotguns.

She flung the door open, and grabbed a .38 revolver with shortened barrel (Saturday night special) which she placed down her skirts back, a Heckler and Koch Mark 23 semi automatic handgun and spare clips, for which she proceeded to put on a gun holster for under the jacket, and a Westinghouse Double barrel shotgun and a box of cartridges, which she carried out to the car and dumped on the back seat.

"What do you need all that for, Ral?" went May, who was stocking up her supply of grenades from the cupboard under the sink unit.

"Same reason you need all that lot for, May" she replied, looking at the amount of grenades, detonators and flash-bangs she was stuffing under her jacket.

Rally went to the coat stand by the doorway that leads to the shop, and picked up a jacket from the stand, it was a Kevlar reinforced ¾ length black leather jacket.

"Just in case…" she went, and put it on

To complete the look, Rally went into a draw and pulled out a pair of glasses.

"Let's GO!" she went, looking at may, and who was still trying to put yet more grenades in her jacket.

"HEY! Wait up!" She called after rally, dropping a few of them on the floor on her way out.

Rally re-sets the shop's alarm, and shut the outside security door so no one could get in, then went over to the fiat again.

May came over and sat beside her friend, then they looked at the list that Rebecca had given them.

"How about Stein? He's a drug dealer, they need guns to protect themselves, and the filth they pump out" went May

"Nah, small fry, won't have any serious cash to burn quickly" Rally replied

"Maybe Mario Imperia? He's got cash by the bucketful"

"No. Why would the mafia buy guns when they can get their own?" Rally asked

"I think…Justin Stiller. He's a major player in local organised crime. He would definatly have cash around, and the means to get the guns out on the streets quickly…" Rally went "…Plus he is also currently under investigation by Roy, for suspected gun running and raqueteering"

"Hmm, makes sense I s'pose" goes May "let's go get 'em then"

"Right" nods rally in agreement.

Rally starts the fiat up and they head off to Justin Stiller's hangout.

At the 'Waterfront Bar', the front for his illegal operations, Justin Stiller was relaxing with a drink of vodka and ice, and a few girls, whilst discussing terms with his new 'associate'

"So, Ms Vincent, you have my guns?"

"Yeah, I got your guns, you got my cash?" Goes Arlene, Who was pretending to be Rally Vincent.

"It still puzzles me though…" he goes "…Why do you want to sell me guns, when all this time you have been relentless in pursuing me and my organisation?"

"Lets just say…" Arlene begins "…That the pay and conditions are lousy in this line of work. I want to move up in the world and I want to change all that quickly, so naturally I would come to the people who can make it happen"

"AHH, trying to better one's self. Most admirable, Ms Vincent."

Justin then signalled to one of his men, who approached the table with a briefcase in his hand.

The henchman placed the briefcase down on the table in front of his boss, and then stepped back.

Justin opened the briefcase in front of him, to examine the contents, and then turned it around to face Arlene.

"As agreed, 200,000 for all the stock of weapons you have, and I trust you bought a small selection with you for visual purposes?" he went, looking at her.

"Of course I did, Mr Stiller. They are outside in my car" she replied.

"Excellent…" he went "…then we have a deal"

Outside the Waterfront bar, sitting across from the main entrance in May's car, Rally and May watched for signs of activity.

Then, a small group of people emerged from the club, and headed over to a blue Shelby cobra parked up on the street.

Rally was not amused.

"Not only is that bitch trying to be me, she's using my car as well!" She growled.

In front of that group, a young woman dressed in a ladies business trouser suit led the way, followed by a sharply dressed man in a white suit and grey shirt and two women falling over themselves in their ridiculously high heels and small dresses, followed by 2 casually dressed men.

The young woman opened the boot of the cobra, and passed a M-60 assault rifle with laser scope sight to the sharply dressed man, who tossed it back to the casually dressed men, followed by a Winchester rifle.

"Time to go, May" Rally went, then opened the car door and stepped out onto the road.

May got out of the car cautiously, and then pulled a few smoke grenades out of her jacket.

She pulled the pin and threw them in the direction of the group.

The grenades landed on the roadside in the gutter a few yards from them, the first casually dressed man with the assault rifle bent down to look at them.

Then the grenades hissed and smoke poured out, engulfing the group in a thick cloud.

"What's this? A double cross?" goes Justin.

"NO! I would never do that," Arlene shouts at him.

Then a few wild shots are fired, and the good time girls run down the alleyway next to the club, screaming all the way.

Rally steps into the smoke, and takes the thug with the assault rifle down in 2 shots, courtesy of his legs being shot out from under him.

The second man points his shotgun into the smoke, and fires a shot off.

The sound of bullets hitting something hard echoes back to them, followed by the sound of another 3 shots coming back.

The second man suddenly goes down as he gets hit in the stomach by a shot, the other two just hitting thin air.

A shadowy figure starts to emerge from the smoke, pointing a small gun at the two remaining individuals.

"Arlene Davenport, you are under arrest" goes a woman's voice in the smoke.

The smoke starts to dissipate, and the figure can be made out.

"NO WAY! YOU SHOULD BE IN JAIL!" screams Arlene, with a look of panic on her face.

"Whoever you are, I'm s…s…sure we can work out a deal here" goes Justin, who without his men is really just a coward.

Suddenly, he reaches into his pocket and starts to pull out a Beretta, Rally see's this, and fires the small gun once again, shooting the Beretta's hammer off with her last shot.

Not noticing this, Justin pulls the trigger.

Click! Click! Click!

He brings the gun up to his line of sight, sees the hammer missing, and then drops the gun and runs for it up the alleyway.

Rally point's the .38 at Arlene.

"Like I said…you are under arrest" she goes, looking at the woman in front of her with distaste.

"I think you'll find …you are all out of shots…" she replies, then grabs the CZ-75 from her inside pocket and points it at rally.

Rally dives to the right and lands behind a large metal bin, and Arlene open's fire with the gun.

Rally throws the .38 behind Arlene, who turns and shoots at the noise, she then goes into her holster and pulls the Heckler and Koch out.

She quickly takes a few shots off, but there was nothing there to shoot at.

Arlene was running up the alleyway, followed by the real bounty hunter.

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, DAVENPORT!" Rally screams at her, and then fires off a warning shot at her feet to show that she's not joking.

Arlene replies by turning around and shooting back.

Rally stops, whips the heavy coat up quickly to cover herself, and the bullets lodges themselves in the Kevlar plates.

Arlene jumps up and grabs a nearby fire escape ladder, then scrambles up the ladder on to the fire escape.

It took Rally a few seconds to recover her composure after pulling the jacket up, so she decided the best thing to do was dump it, as it was slowing her down.

May appeared at the end of the alleyway, and shouted, "RALLY! UP THERE!" pointing at the fire escape a few yards ahead of Rally.

Arlene reached the top of the fire escape, and then turned to look down the alleyway.

She saw Rally running to the ladder, but chose to fire at May instead, as she was an easier target to hit from her elevated point.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Another three shots fired from the gun Arlene was using.

The first two went hopelessly wide, but by some fluke, the third shot ricocheted

Off the metal bin to May's left and hit her in the left arm.

May went down, holding her arm. Crying.

Rally scrambled up the ladder after Arlene, even more determined to catch her now.

Arlene started to run across the rooftop, but Rally's mad dash up the fire escape meant that she got to the top as Arlene started to run and had gotten halfway across the rooftop.

Rally aimed and fired.

Arlene Davenport went tumbling forward in a heap, knocked over by the bullet from Rally's gun.

She tried to get back up slowly, but the pain in her side was too much.

"End of the road, Davenport!" Rally went, and then used her foot to push her over onto her back.

"You…you shot me!" she went, looking surprised.

"Yeah, well maybe you shouldn't go pissing people off like you did" Rally went, then placed her right foot on Arlene's right hand wrist, because she was still holding on to Rally's prized first edition CZ-75.

She let go of the gun, and turned her head to look at what was around Rally's ankle.

"You see that?" Rally goes " better get used to seeing them, because I hear they are all the rage in the local prisons"

With that, Arlene Davenport fainted into unconsciousness.

There are two editions of the CZ-75 that Rally uses, in the original manga she uses a first edition that has been modified for her use, and has the plastic handgrips. The second edition was slightly heavier and had wooden handgrips. Many collectors agree the first edition CZ-75 is superior to the second edition. However, both editions are prone to jamming when shocked due to the thin casing.

Chapter 9 

**Who's who, I want the truth!**

Police had responded to calls from worried residents about the sound of gunfire being reported in central Chicago, near the Waterfront Bar.

Two officers who happened to be passing by the other end of the alleyway at that moment in their patrol car were the first on the scene, and also had the honour of being able to arrest Justin Stiller, as he ran right into the front of their police car, winding himself.

A few moments later, a police helicopter was hovering over the rooftop, with its spotlight shining down on Rally and Arlene.

"This is the Chicago Police department. Drop your weapons and place your hands on your head" goes the voice of the pilot through the helicopters P.A system.

Then a police officer appeared over the top of the fire escape, pointing his weapon at Rally.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know the drill" she replies, as the officer takes rally's hands off her head and 'cuffs them behind her back.

A paramedic also came up, with a first aid kit to treat the wounded Arlene.

"Don't forget my friend down in the alleyway" rally goes to the paramedic, who just nods at her and radios down to his partner the info just given to him.

Detective Roy Coleman arrived on the scene, wondering what was going on.

"Somebody better have answers for me, or heads will roll" he calls out

An officer on the ground directs him to the rooftop, so he goes up to see what's going on up there.

"Roy!" goes Rally

"Jesus, twice in one night" he goes

Detective Coleman walked over to Rally, who had a Mona-Lisa smile on her lips.

"Care to explain what's going on here?" he went, and then noticed the shackle around her ankle "and what you're doing with THAT on"

"THAT is a present from your department, Roy…" she went, as he unlocked her hands "…Who can't tell the difference between the good guys and the bad guys"

Roy looked at her with a blank expression on his face.

"Hello! She looks like me Roy!"

Roy Coleman looked down at the woman on the floor, and then turned back to Rally.

"Unbelievable…" he went " so it _was_ you they put in the ambulance then, not her"

"Well duh!" she replied sarcastically "you were there".

"Detective Coleman, there's a young woman here who wants to speak to you" goes the first paramedic, who was in contact with his colleague from the alleyway.

May appeared over the top of the fire escape, helped up by the second paramedic, as her left arm was now in a sling.

"May" he went "just the person I need to see" he goes.

"Now, can you confirm to me which one is the real Rally Vincent?" he says in a dry voice

Rally gives Roy a deadly cold stare.

May walks up to her friend and says, "of course I can Roy. Who else would go out in public wearing an unsightly and tacky ankle decoration like that?"

"MAY HOPKINS! I'M GOING TO GET YOU"

Rally starts to chase May around the rooftop, Rally pulls May down to the roof, and the two girls start laughing.

"I think that's all I needed to know…" he goes "…Get that girl out of here" he goes pointing down at Arlene.

Arlene was awake again now, and she turned her head towards the two girls laughing at each other on the floor.

The dolly board she was on got lifted up by the paramedics and police officers.

"Just you wait…Rally Vincent. You haven't seen the last of me…" she says softly, then turns her head away from the happy scene.

Epilogue 

Approximately 6 months After the Arlene Davenport incident, a mysterious phone caller to the shop unease's Rally

"Gunsmith Cats, Rally Vincent speaking"

"Good morning, Ms Vincent…" a low female voice said on the other end of the phone, just audible over a lot of background noise.

"Who…who is this?" Goes rally

"Don't tell me you forgotten me already, Ms Vincent."

"Is this…Arlene Davenport?" rally asks the mysterious phone caller

"It is, and this is just a warning from me to you, Rally Vincent…you should have finished me off when you had the chance, now I will bide my time, and wait 'til I get out. Then you are my first order of business"

"Many people have made that threat to me, and I'm still here" she replies

"Maybe, but no-one else who made that threat to you looked like or can act like you, can they?"

"Err, no I guess not. So what?" Rally goes

"The so is this…you got something I want, and I want to collect when I get out. So start practising your shooting, and make sure you are ready to fight for your life, because I WANT YOUR LIFE!"

Then the phone call ends abruptly, with the line going dead.

"Who was that, Rally?" calls May from the back room.

"No-one, wrong number" she says with a quiver in her voice.

Rally didn't want to alarm her friend about the threat just made to her, but something that Arlene had said on the phone stuck in her mind, and kept repeating over and over again…

"…I WANT YOUR LIFE…"

**The end?**

_Will this new threat come true for Rally? Find out in my next Gunsmith cats fanfic story!_


End file.
